Instead of targeting people like Paulette we need a system to target people who are not working and not contributing

Meanwhile, our NHS, our schools, our housing, are all buckling under the pressure that is partly being created by people who take out of the system and don’t put anything back.

But it is not fair, and it’s just not right, that an elderly grandmother who has paid into the NHS all her life via National Insurance should have her treatment held up because there are people in front of her in the queue who have contributed little or nothing.

It’s utterly ridiculous that last year we were cutting back on border controls and now we have to throw millions at it to sort it out. In fact, it is nothing short of political stupidity.

Immigration was at the heart of many people’s decision to leave the EU. Lots of people voted Leave because they thought it would transport us back to a 1950s Britain, with milk floats roaming the streets and dispensing Good Old-fashioned Values.

We have to do something because sitting back and doing nothing is not an option

But this is not about the colour of people’s skin, or their religion. It is about whether or not they are contributing to society.

It is a practical issue. We need much better border control. And there needs to be a more efficient way of identifying illegal immigrants — and making them leave.

In the meantime, though, it seems we are cracking down in all the wrong places. We’re hunting down people like Paulette Wilson, who has lived in Britain for 50 years, paying tax and National Insurance for 34 years.

She recently received a letter telling her she was an illegal immigrant and was going to be sent back to Jamaica, the country she left when she was ten and has never visited since.

Lucy Moreton admitted that we wouldn't be able to track down all of the illegal immigrants

Instead of focusing on people like Paulette, there needs to be an operation to identify and target illegal immigrants who are working without contributing, and to put a proper strategy in place to deal with it.

There should be huge penalties for employers who knowingly employ illegal immigrants. Landlords who allow illegal immigrants to live in their properties should also be massively penalised, and there should not be school places for the children of illegal immigrants.

The fact is that the system cannot cope. We’ve got to open our eyes to the problem and face it head on.
We have to do something. Doing nothing is not an option.

It turns out that, when it comes to immigration, Brexit was a red herring and not the magic bullet some people hoped it was.

But there is a very simple solution to all of this and that is an identity card. Every British citizen should have to carry one and, without one, there should be no access to the NHS, benefits, housing, school places or other state help.